English Language & Literature

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Month: April 2017

Alice O’Connell was found dead, bullet in the head, this morning in her condo in Colombia, a social universe away from the place of her birth but a fitting landscape to the end of a life consumed by drugs, delinquency and deceit.
These stony sentences, which read like the epilogue of a gangster novel, may be music to the ears of the multitudes of conspicuous characters to whom the notorious drug lordette opened her business, and exploited millions from. They may even cause a smile to pass across the lips of cops across the globe, enthralled with the illegalities of the dearly deceased’s entrepreneurship yet never able to catch her in her illicit acts. Do not doubt though, that the death of this criminal will trigger sorrow and affliction from the bottom of the hearts of desperate housewives and crime fanatics, who enjoyed hearing the ‘Breaking News’ of yet another felony committed by the somewhat loveable rogue.
She wasn’t always victim to news headlines and police on her heels; there was a time when the young Alice O’Connell was s child genius, flourishing in exceptional achievements and basking in the glory of success in everything she did. Life on the good side because tiresome for this young Einstein and when her flair for laundering drugs offered a wealthier life than her knack for good grades, she turned her back on her vanilla life in shoebox Bradford.
To say Alice O’Connell was a celebrity would be absurd. Despite the fame into which she was thrust after a deal done wrong or a a client confessing, the 22 led her short life in full discretion. It’s no secret that the name itself is a counterfeit- an alter ego, a mask behind which the real Jane Smith hid behind.
In the end, all that’s left to say is rest in peace Miss O’Connell; whoever you were.

Beth Rigby has been called up on for the way she speaks. Oliver Kamm, one of her colleagues, was quick to defend her and said that regional accents need to be more apparent in our media. Regional accents are argued to be friendly, relatable and down to earth, so shouldn’t this be the case in our media? Individuals should take pride in the way they speak and the regional accents they have.

Don’t we all pay for the media? Therefore it makes sense that the media reflects us ALL and not just those who attended public schools. If all we heard was the Queen’s English, not that there’s anything wrong with it, I’m sure we would all get just a little bit bored. Where would we be if it wasn’t for listening to Christine Bleakley’s warm Northern Irish accent on our daily television?

Unfortunately, because of the minority of regional accents that we hear in the media, some of us are made to feel ‘excluded’ from society. This can be shown in a study that was out forward by Ives. The pedants of the English language need to take everyone into consideration because that is what makes society unique and shows a true representation of who we really are (and not just robots!).

Regional accents are part of who we are and people like Beth Rigby should feel proud of the accent she has and always will have! It’s utter nonsense taking the time to correct a regional accent. I say find something more useful and better to do with your time.